The sky was black, the air was crisp and the energy was high
as 27 of our students and 5 staff members met at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith
Airport this morning to embark on the 2019 Service Trip. Everyone was at the
airport by 5:00am for a 7:55am flight to Cambodia via Singapore.
Most of the morning, prior to boarding their initial flight,
consisted of different mathematical calculations. The first, calculating (or
speculating) about how much each person’s bag weighed and then attempting to balance
their weight with a friend. This was closely followed by the calculations of
how much phone battery they would need to conserve in order to last the day’s
travels. Finally, the team refined their counting skills… a few times… as they became
increasingly familiar with their new counting-off roll system.
McDonalds faithfully served the team by proving most of the
staff and students with much-needed coffee and breakfast before departure.
Lachlan Greentree also played his part in serving the team by providing
everyone with small lolly bags for the flight. With the help of that sugar hit
and the in-flight entertainment, the first leg of the journey went quickly and
smoothly. The 7.5hour flight flew by (no pun intended) and, before we knew it,
we had landed in Singapore.
Unfortunately, that was the easy part of the trip. The
flight from Singapore to Phnom Penh was delayed by almost an hour and, after
eventually boarding the plane, we were asked to disembark and wait further for
some communication errors to be fixed. By this point we were all exhausted but
the students did not let that show and were patient, kind and gracious
throughout the whole process.
The plane eventually took off safely at about 6:30pm
Singapore time and we landed safely in Phnom Penh just before 8:00pm. We
travelled by bus to our new home for the stay: The Royal Frangipani. The staff
were kind enough to cook us dinner, despite the late arrival, and most people
ended the day with a reminder of home with a meal of pizza or spaghetti bolognaise.
Finishing dinner at around 10pm, it’s safe to say, we were
all exhausted. Everyone went to bed quite quickly after dinner in order to
prepare themselves for tomorrow. Despite the challenges, the day was successful
with God providing safety for the team and some opportunities to bond together
as a group.
Tomorrow we head to the Tabitha Foundation, Tuol Sleng and
the killing fields, finishing with a cruise in the afternoon and dinner
together. Please pray for us as we continue, that we would have ongoing safety
and continued energy for the action-packed days ahead.
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